The Duchess of the Attic

"Oh, well..."

Claude, who was reading the newspaper, looked up as Opal shrugged as he read the letter he had received from the Kingdom of Socieux.

The two of us have been busy days since we returned to the Duke of Botzelli's territory, but lately we have been able to take a little time after breakfast.

"What's wrong with you?

"Roana said she refused a proposal from the Duke of McCloud."

"Did you say no?

"Yeah, we didn't think it was going to work even though we didn't have romantic feelings for each other."

Roana, Viscount Croiselle's warrant, is the person she met at the impeachment ball of Keymont and was cultivating friendship while exchanging letters from then on.

I couldn't even write to you the last time I was staying in the Duke of Botzeri territory, but now that the disturbances had one paragraph in both countries, I was resuming correspondence.

"Viscount Croisel left it to Miss Roana's discretion, too."

"Right. Roana wrote about it. 'I can only thank my parents for telling me that I don't mind being single like this. I'd like to be filial in some other way.'"

Opal dropped his gaze on the thick letter from Roana and read out one of its sentences.

I didn't keep my face up because I remembered the first marriage.

I now know that that forceful friendship was because he thought of my daughter as a father.

Still, sometimes voidness strikes me.

"Opal"

"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry. I missed it."

Called on by Claude, Opal looked up in a panic.

I'm sure what you were thinking is off, but still pretend you were reading the letter.

When he took the letter from such an opal and put it on the table, Claude took Opal's hand intact.

"I love you, Opal. I've always loved you, and I always will."

"Claude......"

Always Claude gives me the words Opal wants.

Help me if I'm in trouble, comfort me, make me sweet without saying anything.

Yet Opal couldn't return the words well, and all he could do was lay his hands on Claude's hands and stare.

"Will you stop flirting with me in the morning? I get heartburn."

"- It's still impolite of you to push me without contacting me in the morning."

It was Julian who had suddenly interrupted, and Opal turned around in frustration.

Having slipped into the breakfast room, Julian sits in a chair that she is not even greatly advised to do.

"Don't worry, I don't expect any hospitality from you."

"There's no way you care. You're not welcome."

Bitterly smiling at the unchanged sibling fight, Claude gave instructions by hand to the oranging butler.

The newly hired butler is excellent, but he didn't know what to do for Julian's surprise raid.

The butler left in relief, leaving only three people in the room.

"So, what happened?

"Do we have to do something?

"It's not natural, because I'm an uninvited guest. You were having fun in Wang Du, weren't you?

"You have no obligation to report, do you? And even if I don't bother to let you know, I already have the information."

Instead of the Opals, who had to proceed with the reform of the Duke's territory, we of course knew that Julian had stayed in the King's Capital to make ends meet in the social world.

But to Opal, who honestly doesn't say thank you, Julian picks the muffins on the table by answering like he made a fool of himself.

Claude, who saw the look on Opal's face at that moment, erupts indelibly.

"Julian! That's my muffin!

"You had breakfast, didn't you? You still gonna eat that?

"Shut up! You must be deliberate in knowing you like me!?

"That's why I'm telling you. Get whatever you want."

I've known about Opal, who keeps the last thing he likes for a long time, and Julian is going to be mean.

Claude didn't pinch his mouth anymore for such an exchange, but I heard Naja sneaking in with a new cup of tea ready.

"Oh, excuse me"

"It's okay, Naja. It's not rude at all."

"Hey, Naja. Long time no see. Sorry to fool you then."

"Oh, it's been a while! I'm the one who said a lot of rude things..."

"You really don't have to care, Naja. I kept my mouth shut. I'm sorry, too."

"But..."

"It's more than that, it's a tease to the throat. Can I get you a cup of tea?

"Yes!

Naja, who meets for the first time not as my servant Julian but as the Viscount Julian, was frightened of her ever disrespectful demeanor.

I'd rather not worry about Naja like that, but Julian ended this story by urging tea.

"So, what are you going to do now?

"Come on, I haven't decided yet...... I guess I'll go home once. I haven't had a Marcia muffin in a while."

"Right..."

Claude nodded relieved to Julian, who answered in a light tone.

Julian has always been impotent without going back to the Count's consulate and without risking his life.

Eight - nine years ago he ran to save lives in the plague spreading kingdom of Tysey, and since then he has been working as a spy for Alessandro.

Whatever Claude was on edge of the kingdom, he wasn't wondering why Julian would go that far, but he never asked about it.

A glimpse of Opal seemed more relieved than Claude.

"You just have to listen to plenty of Marcia's novels before you eat muffins. And Trevor's gonna squeeze me in."

With that said, Opal tried to get up without waiting for Julian's reply.

Claude stands first and lends a hand.

Julian stood up as a courtesy too, but just watched.

Opal ignored Julian like that and smiled at Claude.

"Thank you, Claude. Then I'll talk to Duncan. Is Claude going to Pasma?

"Yeah, I'll be back at night though."

"Speak up before you go out again."

"Okay."

Claude laughed bitterly and dropped off Opal as he turned his back and left the room.

Julian is just sitting back and drinking tea.

Claude also lowered back again, thinking we were both not being honest.